Thanks to all of the participants who entered this year!

2018 Submissions are now closed.

About USA Wine Ratings

The new Wine Ratings looks to set a new benchmark for award-winning wine by assessing them for their quality, their value for their money and what they look like with their packaging and design.

We’re told to never judge a book by its cover. Which is very much the approach taken by the majority of wine competitions around the world that only judge a wine by how it tastes, with no consideration at all for what it looks like, and often how much it costs.

Beverage Trade Network hopes to change all that with its new global awards initiative, the USA Wine Ratings (UWR).

For a wine to stand out in the USA Wine Ratings it has to perform well in each of three separate judging criteria:

Quality. All wines will be initially tasted blind to assess their quality and how drinkable they are they for consumers in their target area.

Value for money. Wines will then be assessed to see how much value for money they are offering their target wine drinkers at that price point.

Packaging and design. As the majority of wine is bought with our eyes, the USA Wine Ratings will recognise wines that stand out on shelf, or on a back bar, and will assess how well suited that design or packaging is to their target consumer group and at that price point.

The USA Wine Ratings looks to recognize, reward and help promote wine brands that have successfully been created to identify with and target a specific wine drinker. For any wine brand to earn its place on a retailer’s shelf or a restaurant’s wine list - and then vitally stay there - they need to be marketable and consumer driven and not just produced in the general hope it can find enough people willing to sell and buy it.

Judges

Meet our 2018 Judges

General Manager, Wine Director, Hyatt Regency, CA, USA

Master of Wine, NY, USA

Master of Wine, OR, USA

Tim Hanni, one of the first two Americans to earn the title of Master of Wine. A professionally trained chef, and international consultant to the wine industry, Hanni is the author of “Why You Like the Wines You Like; Changing the way the world t

Eric Sigmund, Wine Manager, Total Wine & More, MD, USA

Sr. Buyer - Adult Beverage, Wine, Walmart Stores Inc.

Wine Director, Super Buy-Rite, NJ

Sommelier at Hyatt Regency Chicago

Sommelier at Hyatt Regency Chicago

Awards

USA Wine Ratings Medals

Gold
+90 Points

Silver
+80 Points

Bronze
+70 Points

Judging Formula

To win a USA Wine Ratings award you will need to score highly in all three areas of our judging criteria. You might have an outstanding quality wine, but if the price and packaging is not right, you will not be recognized by the USA Wine Ratings. There is no point, for example, in having a 95 point wine if it does not look good or offer consumers great value for money. Those points mean it will remain highly respected within the trade, but it will also remain largely unsold on the shelf or languishing on a restaurant’s wine list.

That is why USA Wine Ratings is the leading wine competition in the USA with the rationale to rate wines per the preferences of the consumer and trade and rewarding wines as such. Wine entries will be judged by their Quality, Value and Packaging.

Scoring System

A separate weighted score will be given for each of the three parts of the judging process. The scores will be added up to give a final score from which individual prizes will be awarded.

Quality Score: will be marked out of 50

Value Score: will be marked out of 25

Package Score: will be marked out of 25

Quality Score

Quality will be assessed based on how agreeable the wine is for its target customer and chemical analysis. UWR will measure quality by Appearance, Aroma, Body, Taste and Aftertaste.

Value Score

Value in this context means how well the wine is priced based on its quality. If you think it offers excellent value, the score should be close to 100 of 100 and if you think it should be priced lower, then the score should be low. The metric to be used here is the retail price vs quality.

Packaging Score

Packaging in this context is measured by how well you think the wine will be perceived by the consumer. This includes label, bottle color, bottle shape and closure. This does not involve boxes, cartons and bags. It is how you think the product will be perceived when placed on a wine shelf amongst thousands of other wines.

Who are the Judges?

The USA Wine Ratings(UWR) will be assessed and judged by a leading panel of top-level wine buyers with current direct commercial buying responsibility. The list of judges will be drawn from leading retail chains, wholesalers, distributors and on-trade groups across a variety of channels and disciplines including multiple retailing, convenience stores, cash and carries, specialist retailers, casual and fine dining, hospitality and the travel industry.